Serving the Gods or Suck it up, Buttercup

Service is hard. For those being called as god-servants, spirit-workers, mystics, shamans, even God-spouses and godatheow, teetering on that precipice, feeling the push to commit can be a terrifying experience. It’s all the more terrifying when one is ‘lawful prey’ to the God or Goddess  in question (or multiple Deities—ain’t polytheism grand?) when one’s ‘acceptance and compliance’ is relative.

I’ve belonged to Odin for close to twenty years and I can say without a doubt that this is an incredibly grueling path to walk. He challenges and hones His servants and devotees to a degree that I cannot begin to explain. It’s wrenching and beautiful, agonizing and ecstatic all at once.  I can also say without a doubt that I wouldn’t change anything, not one moment of it because it’s also incredible rewarding. If you do the work, the Gods will pour blessings into your hands…maybe not the ones you expected, but the ones They know you truly need.

Lately it seems I see more and more people being called up and many of them really struggle with this, more than I remember my generation of God-servants doing. Maybe this is just a natural tendency to romanticize our pasts or maybe there’s something going on here. I don’t know. What I do know is this: I’m hard-headed and I’ve made my share of stumbles and mistakes. I’ve had my share (probably more than my fair share) of tantrums and arguments but duty is duty and service is sacred. Eventually it’s really a matter of “suck it up, buttercup,” there’s work to be done and it’s not about our comfort.  Sometimes the Gods are all about pushing us out of our comfort zones whether we like it or not. Still, there are a few things that can make this process easier because when starting out, particularly if one is co-opted unexpectedly by a Deity (and yes, this can occur), it can take some time to find one’s footing.

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